comparison of maximum pain intensity and duration of primary dysmenorrhea after acupressure on third liver and placebo points - a double-blind randomized controlled clinical trial

background & aim: primary dysmenorrhea (pd) is the most common genital disease among adults which can disrupt daily activities and reduce quality of life. acupressure was recommended for relief of pd and the aim of this study was to compare the maximum pain intensity (mpi) and duration of pd after acupressure on third liver (liv3) and placebo points.
methods & materials: students who were suffering from pd were studied for three menstrual cycles between march and june 2012. in the first cycle, intensity and duration of dysmenorrhea (dpd) were assessed and students with pain score≥4 according to visual analogue scale for mpi were selected. randomized block allocation was performed based on pain intensity with 1:1 allocation ratio. students, data analyzer and allocation were blind. students applied acupressure themselves, on liv3 or placebo points in the second and third cycles, only on first day of menstrual cycles in the beginning of bleeding. acupressure was performed 4 times intermittently, (2 minutes pressure followed by 2 minutes rest, twice on each leg and 16 minutes in total). chi-square, mann –whitney, wilcoxon, sign test and ordinal regression analysis were used.
results: in liv3 group 27 and in control group 32 students were analyzed. mpi in each group decreased after intervention but decrease in dpd was not significant. there were not significant differences between groups based on ordinal regression test for mpi and dpd (p>0.05).
conclusion: pressure at liv3 point decreased mpi but was not significantly effective in reducing dpd. further studies in more menstrual cycles and other techniques are recommended.